The alkylation of aromatic hydrocarbon compounds employing zeolite catalysts is known and understood in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,795 describes the liquid phase alkylation of benzene with ethylene in the presence of MCM-22 to produce ethylbenzene; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,458 discloses liquid phase alkylation and transalkylation processes using zeolite beta.
Zeolite-based catalysts are used in the alkylation of benzene with propylene to produce cumene. U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,606 discloses a process for preparing cumene using MCM-22 in liquid phase.
The alkylation of benzene with ethylene and propylene to form ethylbenzene (EB) and cumene respectively is diffusionally limited. There is, therefore, a need to develop high activity catalyst for the alkylation of benzene with ethylene and propylene. We discovered that a composition comprising a MCM-49 molecular sieve and titanium compound exhibits high alkylation activity.